1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automatic wire or strip stock cutting and forming machines More particularly, it refers to a vertically mounted air cylinder operated machine in which the stroke of each forming or cutting tool can be adjusted to provide for multiple products from one machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wire cutting and forming machines are well known in the electrical connector art and are used to make connector elements of varying sizes, shapes and bends. U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,250 describes a module-type forming machine employing a central driving wheel gear with slide units operatively connected. These slides move in a radial direction towards and away from the forming station. Such a machine is expensive to build and although useful for varying operations, cannot be easily converted to a different bending or forming operation. A forming machine is needed which will perform several forming or cutting operations on thin wire or strip stock and be easily converted to produce wire pieces with a different configuration from the first set up operation.